Alaska and Hawaiian are now sister airlines flying as part of Alaska Air Group. And for Hawaiian Airlines, that means a newfound financial stability.
Hobbled by last summer's devastating Lahaina wildfires in Maui and weak demand from Japan, Hawaiian has not turned a profit since before the pandemic.
But the company has now been subsumed by financially healthy Alaska Airlines.
"This purchase is not really predicated on finding economies of scale or doing much consolidation," said Bloomberg Intelligence aviation industry analyst George Ferguson. "Hawaiian needed a better balance sheet."
Airline industry analyst Brett Snyder, who pens the Cranky Flier blog, said the merger won't broadly impact the competitive landscape of the U.S. airline industry, but that Hawaii-based flyers will experience immediate benefits.
Instead of having to rely on separate airlines -- Hawaiian to get them from the Islands to the U.S. mainland and another carrier for most destinations within the U.S. -- Hawaiians will have broad access to the continental U.S. with the combined Alaska-Hawaiian network.
In the long run, Snyder said he expects Alaska Air Group's acquisition of Hawaiian's fleet of widebody aircraft to result in the Alaska brand launching its first transoceanic service from its home base in Seattle.
"I would be shocked if we didn't see some long-haul flying from Seattle, where they've pushed the limits of what you can do with short-haul flying," he said.
With opportunities, however, will come challenges.
Ferguson noted that Alaska has long been an efficient operator. But acquiring Hawaiian's fleet of Boeing and Airbus widebodies and Airbus narrowbodies will add complexity for a carrier that was previously flying all Boeing narrowbody jets.
"It will test Alaska's ability to optimize its cost structure," Ferguson said.